ON INTRODUCED ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 23 



tions to the temple at Medinet Habu ; and also erected buildings at 

 Esneh, and at Semneh in Nubia. 



The practice of blackening the eyelids with " kohl" (a preparation 

 said to be composed partly of antimony), seems to be figured on the 

 monuments, at least as far back as the Seventeenth Dynasty. — The 

 use of kohl, or eye-paint, is mentioned in 2 Kings ix. 30 ; and among 

 Greek writers, by Ion and by Julius Pollux v. 16, 101. 



The plant figured in the Asasif, and on subsequent monuments 

 (Lepsius, III. PI. 19 and 78), is perhaps, the white variety of the beet 

 (Beta vulgaris). — The current Egyptian name of the beet is "selk;" 

 and in this word, we recognise the "seytlon" or " teytlon" of Melan- 

 thius, Aristophanes (Pac. 1008), Eudemus, and Athenceus ii. 57. 

 The beet, under its Latin name, is mentioned by Plautus and Martial. 



The incense-burner is figured in the Asasif, and on subsequent 

 monuments (Lepsius, III. PI. 19, 58, 71, and Champollion-Figeac, PI. 

 86). — Frankincense is supposed to be the product of Boswellia thurifera, 

 an indigenous tree of Hindostan. The " lbnh" of Leviticus ii. and xxiv., 

 Numbers v. 15, Isaiah lx. 6, and Jeremiah vi. 20, may be compared 

 with the " libanos" of Euripedes and Dioscorides, and with " luban," 

 the current Egyptian name of olibanum or frankincense. 



According to Birch, the mummy-cases of the time of the Seventeenth 

 Dynasty are usually of sycamore wood (Ficus sycomorus). — The mysti- 

 cal sacred tree (which in some representations is clearly the sycamore) is 

 figured at the commencement of the Eighteenth Dynasty; and also, a 

 tank with trees, apparently sycamores, planted around (Lepsius, III. 

 PI. 37 and 40). 



According to Lepsius, the Hyksos did not quit the Egyptian frontier 

 until the commencement of the reign of Tetmes III. This would place 

 the building of Jerusalem later than B. C. 1550 : for, according to 

 Manetho, Jerusalem was built by the Hyksos ; and at the time of its 

 foundation, the Assyrians ruled in Asia. 



Tetmes III. thus became the head of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The 

 date of his thirty-fifth year has been discovered ; and his long and 

 apparently peaceful reign is remarkable for the vast amount of build- 

 ing. At Thebes, the temple in the Asasif was completed, and addi- 

 tions were made at Karnak, and at Medinet Habu : in other parts of 

 Egypt and in Nubia, temples were erected, continued, or commenced, 

 at Esneh, El Kab, Edfu, Ombos, Elephantine, Amada, Eguisse, Sem- 

 neh, Ibrim, and Wadi Haifa : two obelisks of some ninety feet in 

 height, were placed at Karnak ; and other obelisks, in situations from 



